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Founded in 2005, Rouxbe ("ROO-bee") is the world's leading online cooking school. Rouxbe offers instructor-guided certification cooking courses for cooks of all levels using intuitive learning technology. Courses can be taken on demand, at your own pace. Rouxbe can be found in the kitchens of homes, schools, restaurants and professional culinary academies in over 180 countries.

Method

Step 1: Making and Brining the Pork (optional)

To make the brine, place 4 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the salt, sugar, garlic, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns and then turn the heat down to a simmer.

Once the salt and sugar have fully dissolved, turn off the heat and let the brine steep for at least 10 minutes or so.

Next, pour the brine into a container that is large enough to hold the remaining water and pork. Then add the remaining cold water and ice. The brine must be completely cold before you add the pork.

Next, place the pork into the brine and transfer to the refrigerator. Let the pork brine for at least 2 to 3 hours or preferably overnight.

Step 2: Drying the Pork

Method

Step 2: Drying the Pork

Once the pork has finished brining, remove it from the brine. Completely dry the pork by patting with paper towels. Place the pork onto a baking tray that is lined with a cooling rack. Discard the brine.

If you have the time and you have planned far enough ahead, you can place the pork into the refrigerator for a few hours to air dry. If the pork is allowed to air dry, you will get a very good sear.

Note: If you don’t have the time, just make sure it is very dry before you begin cooking; otherwise, the meat will steam on the outside rather than get a nice golden crust.

Before you start cooking let the pork rest at room temperature about 30 minutes or so.

Step 3: Preparing the Pork for Cooking

Method

Step 3: Preparing the Pork for Cooking

Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C). If you are short on time, you can cook the pork at at temperatures up to 350°F; however, slower and lower cooking results in more tender and juicier meat.

To prepare the pork for cooking, first score the thick fat (if there is any), into a criss-cross pattern. Be sure to only score the fat and not deep enough to cut into the meat. Scoring exposes more fat to the heat, which will result in more fat being rendered during the cooking process.

Next, rub the oil all over the pork and season with salt and pepper. Don’t go too heavy on the salt if you have brined the pork.

Step 4: Searing the Pork

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1 tbsp grapeseed or vegetable oil

Method

Step 4: Searing the Pork

To sear the pork, heat a large heavy-bottomed fry pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan has been properly heated, add the oil followed by the pork. Sear the meat on all sides until golden brown.

Step 5: Roasting the Pork

Method

Step 5: Roasting the Pork

Place the pork into the oven, uncovered and let cook until the internal temperature reaches 145°F or 62°C, about 1 to 1 hr. 15 mins.

Once done, remove the pork from the pan. Place onto a rack that is resting over a tray. Cover with vented foil and let rest for at least 15 minutes (the internal temp. will increase by at least 5 or 10 degrees).

As the pork is resting, make the sauce. Just remember the handle of the pan will still be very hot.

17 Comments

Rouxbe Staff

Joe G

•
November 19, 2008 at 04:53PM

I never thought there would be such a big difference with Berkshire Pork. This whole meal was a highlight of the month for me at home - including the sides. Try it and at a minimum, brine your pork roast if not Berkshire, which is much more expensive.

Not sure where you live, but if you call your local butcher they may be able to point you in the right direction.
What city do you live in? If in Vancouver, I know you can buy it at Armando's Finest Meats on Granville Island (Armando is fantastic).

If I can, I always use homemade chicken stock, this way I can control the salt. If you don't have any on hand, just use a good stock that is low in sodium, this way you will have more control over the saltiness.
For this dish I used a dark chicken stock for added richness, but you could also use vegetable stock, veal stock, or just a white chicken stock.
As for how much to use, (good catch, I forgot to add it...oops!), about 1 cup should be enough.
Good luck! Let me know how it turns out...

Will you achieve the same results if you brine a BONELESS pork loin and then roast at this low temperature? Every recipe I see for pork loin has the oven at 350 degrees (at least) and sometimes up to 450+. I know the bone helps with moisture and as a buffer from the heat, but a boneless roast would work well for a quick weeknight meal (and is much less expensive). Thoughts?

You can use a boneless pork loin instead. As for whether or not you will achieve "the same results", I would have to say no. As you are changing the cut of meat so the results will not be the same but they will likely still be delicious.
Also remember to keep an eye on it as you do not want to over cook pork like this as it can be dry. That is part of the reason why I like the slow and low cooking for it. For more info on this you might want to watch the lesson on Combination Cooking (in particular the last topic that talks about slow and low cooking). Cheers!

This may be a stupid question, but I've got to ask it anyway because I've read several recipes recently that call for overnight marinading, or more alarming when I was making crème fraîche for my French friend, leaving it out at room temperature overnight. So, how many hours are implied by 'overnight'?

Overnight is a fairly loose term but is usually considered anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. If marinating, larger cuts can withstand longer marinating times. You may want to check out the lesson on How to Marinate as this is covered in detail.
Btw, it's not a stupid question :-) If you prepared the pork the night before and left it to marinate overnight, you're not likely going to cook it the following morning. It'll marinate for longer than that by the time you get it in the oven and this - more often than not - is just fine.
Also, the process of making creme fraiche actually requires the dairy products to be left at room room temperature for several hours until the bacterial cultures activate. This is required so that the mixture can thicken. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Hi John- It's OK to have too much brine. As long as the solution is correct in terms of ratios/proportions you will be fine. The important part is making sure you have enough brine to adequately cover the roast. I hope this helps! Enjoy.

Two comments here. First kudos to the staff for the timely response to my question since it needed to be answered within a few hours to make a difference in the holiday meal planning - and Christmas Eve yet! Thank you.
Second, I did brine the pig, tripling the amount of liquid, as well as aromatics, in the instructions to cover the thing. It sat in the brine for 12 hours, was removed and air dried in the refrigerator, smeared with a light cover of crushed garlic, pepper and grape seed oil -no salt at all - and seared in a very hot oven as I do not own a pan large enough to use stovetop.
Bottom line, the best pork roast I have ever had. It was moist and beautifully flavored and accompanied by the pan juice sauce recommended in the recipe. Thanks for great recipes, instructions, lessons and staff. I wish Rouxbe Cooking School tremendous success in the New Year and for the future.
John

Thanks for your kind words John. We are most happy to hear that you had such a delicious holiday meal. Sounds like the brining worked out really well for you.
I also wanted to mention, that I find that after practicing a particular cooking method/or technique (ie, Brining), it is helpful to review or re-watch that particular lesson—either to refresh my memory or to see if I missed anything from the first time around. It just seems to stick better once you have put the lesson into practice—or maybe that's just me :-)
Keep up the good work!

I think that maybe you might have just missed this from Step 3 —
"Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C). If you are short on time, you can cook the pork at at temperatures up to 350°F; however, slower and lower cooking results in more tender and juicier meat."
But of course, keep in mind that the time it will take will depend on your oven, the size of the cut of meat etc.
Hope that helps. Cheers!

When making a roast, when is it appropriate to make a pan sauce and when is it better to make a gravy?
It seems like one could add chicken stock to the pork roast pan before going into the oven (as suggested for a turkey) then either make a rich gravy using a roux or reduce the pan stock, add flavoring and cold butter to make a pork roast pan sauce.
Are there better choices when making one type of roast vs another?

This is a matter of personal preference. In general, a pan sauce is lighter and thinner whereas a gravy is starch thickened (roux or slurry, etc.) and rich. Ask yourself if the roast needs more richness or just a bit of moisture and a flavor boost.
I tend to prefer pan sauces as a personal preference unless I am hoping to enrich a lean meat (e.g. eye round roast or turkey breast or meat that might otherwise be on the dry side. Cheers!